haha I love this thread! Mainly because I grew up in a household where it was ALL about cheap meals. My mama is mostly italian so we had LOTS of pasta dishes. I cook that way now, my boyfriend lucked out with me (: I love to cook. Did anyone mention Goulash? That's a cheap meal! I need to use beans at least 2x a week..but BF just LOVES meat. *sigh*

Kaitlyn - 21, single mother to an adorable baby girl born 1/18/2012 (:

Lots of great ideas here. I just quit my job and we're going to one income. Some things I stocked up on were- 10 lb bags of rice, black beans, garbanzo beans, quinoa, flour and corn grits. I can make humus, pita bread, polenta, beans & rice, bean dips, curried dishes and just add vegetables from the garden for easy and cheap dinners. I buy (splurge) mushrooms, organic fruit, fish, potatoes and avocados. We spend $100 a week on groceries for a family of 4 (plus extra cousins for part of the summer). I am working on cutting the food bill down to $75 weekly. Maybe the breakfast for dinner idea will help us. Thanks for tips

I watch for when meat is on markdown and stock up on it then. I like to stretch it as far as I can so when whole grain chicken helper is on sale or if I have some brown rice, I'll season it up and add it to that with a can of veg. Eggs with some tomatoes. Pizza sandwiches in the sandwich maker. Frenchtoast. Homemade bread with some soup or stew.

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I adore Depression Cooking with Clara. She makes me want to give her a hug!

Ohhh I ADORE her!

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I realize this thread is super old, but I have 2 ideas, I'm pretty sure equal out to under or at $2.00 a meal!

It's just me and DS, but we love to have:

Fried Potatoes & Weenies

How I make them: I fry my weenies(I use 3 weenies for us two) in a bit of veggie oil first, then put them in a bowl and set them aside (keeping the oil in the pan). Then, I add the cut potatoes (I use 2 big potatoes or 3 small ones), add desired oil, salt and pepper the potatoes. Cover and fry them about Medium heat for around 12 minutes, flip and repeat. If they aren't done to my satisfaction, I just fry them more. Though, I assume most you moms know how to make your own fried potatoes! ;) Anyway! I add the weenies to the end of the frying process. And it's done. Some days we have corn, or spinach, or any side dish we have left overs of.

And:

Beanie Weenies:

How I make them: I fry the weenies until they are to my liking (I use 3 weenies for us two), one can of Pork & Beans, squirt ketchup and mustard in (I just add until I am happy), salt and pepper. You can serve right away, or let it simmer a bit. :)

Then I have a third one, that might be a tad over $2.00, depending on what you have in your kitchen. :) However, you can make many sandwiches with the ingredients.

Cucumber Tomato and Sprout Sandwiches

You need:

Cucumber - sliced (ours are .49 cents right now)

Tomato - sliced (Roma tomatoes are 1.24 a pound here)

Alfalfa Sprouts (always on sale at our Krogers for around .59 cents)

Mayo - or condiment of choice (always in fridge)

Bread - I toast mine (always in cabinet)

It's simple, put it all on the bread! I salt my veggies, and pile the sprouts on high. But this is really healthy, and really tasty!

I'm making leftover soup tonight. My own homemade broth, the remains of cornish hens for the meat and a carrot, some tomatoes from a friend's garden for the basic chicken soup. I'll add a few egg noodles and can of biscuits on the side to round it out. I'm pretty sure this comes in way under the two dollar a serving mark.

We really like homemade green onion cakes - flour, water, oil, salt, chopped green onions, served with gf soy sauce and chili sauce and a salad or whatever veg is cheap and handy on the side. And you can regrow the green onions from the bulbs if you put them in water in a sunny window.

We are gf and make them with ground chickpea flour instead of wheat flour - that ups the protein and I don't feel we need meat with this. My family loves this meal.

Make rice in large frying pan. Push rice to one side, add some oil, and crack an egg or two into the oil. Cook a little bit, then mix with rice and continue cooking until egg is set. Add soya sauce, peas and green onion to taste. Salt and pepper. Yum. Fast, cheap and tasty.

There is a battle of two wolves inside us. One is good and the other is evil. The wolf that wins is the one you feed.

Book and herb loving mama to 1 preteen and 2 teens (when did that happen?). We travel, go to school, homeschool, live rurally, eat our veggies, spend too much time...